Balkans row to hit EU summit after French veto

"Leaders have a wider spectrum of issues to discuss - there's Brexit, there's Turkey, so I think there's an awareness that Europe, at this stage, cannot afford to be inward looking," she said, referring to Turkey's invasion of Syria.

"It's now up to the European Council to try to rectify today's non-outcome," EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn also said.

They spoke after France vetoed opening accession talks with the two Western Balkan states at the Luxembourg meeting.

Denmark and the Netherlands were also against opening negotiations with Albania, but France said no to talks with either of the two candidates.

"There's no animosity, no aggression - it was a cordial discussion," Amelie De Montchalin, the French EU affairs minister, claimed after the Luxembourg meeting ended.

But the fiasco prompted EU Council president Donald Tusk to put the topic on the summit agenda, Tuppurainen said.

The Finnish minister and Hahn, as well as others, including Germany, also voiced dismay.

"It wasn't a moment of glory for Europe," Hahn said.

"There are other countries - Russia and China - who are just waiting for the EU to withdraw from this region," Polish EU affairs minister Konrad Szymanski noted.

"It's very important to give a political signal that enlargement is not dead," Romanian foreign minister George Ciamba said.

For his part, German EU affairs minister Micheal Roth said Berlin's position was "crystal clear ... the EU takes responsibility for stability, democracy, and reconciliation in the Western Balkans and that means keeping our promises".

"Much can be lost by creating a strategic vacuum there," a German diplomat added.

"Chancellor Angel Merkel will raise the issue with Macron on Wednesday ... It is a strategic question for the EU," a German official also said.

He was referring to Merkel's plan to meet French president Emmanuel Macron in the French town of Toulouse on Wednesday for pre-summit talks.

The Western Balkans dispute comes after German MEPs from Merkel's political party voted to dismiss Macron's candidate for EU commissioner - Sylvie Goulard - last week.

It also comes after France failed to follow Germany on an arms ban on Saudi Arabia earlier this year, in a further sign of fraying relations.

For her part, France's De Montchalin tried to justify the veto on Tuesday by saying North Macedonia and Albania had "not arrived at the full realisation" of EU-demanded reforms.

The EU also needed to change its own accession protocols in order to make them "less frustrating for candidate countries," she added.

But Hahn and, in a gentler way, Tuppurainen dismissed the French claims in their press remarks.

"Europe has made commitments and now it's time to live up to our obligations," the Finnish minister said.

Hahn apologised to North Macedonian and Albanian citizens for the very frustration caused by France.

"They deserve it [EU accession talks]. These people have dreams, desires, aspirations," he said.

"They have delivered [on reforms] - full stop. Then we have to deliver. But we didn't," he added.

"There's a certain trend that those who are already in [the EU] are a little reluctant to let others in," Hahn said on France.